East of the Sun

by Janet Rogers

  ‘Are you all right?’ Mara asked from the doorway.

  ‘I’m fine, thanks Mara. Thank you for everything. I’ll be there in a second.’

  Mara nodded, smiled and then she was gone.

  Amelia didn’t pause to give any more thought to her strange feelings. She was too worn out to think clearly anyway.

  Nick sat behind the desk, his gaze fixed on a spot in the dark, wooden surface, his thoughts clearly elsewhere. She could see the signs of exhaustion on his face. He had the same bruised look she’d seen on her own face that morning.

  She paused in the door, suddenly feeling awkward. ‘Hi,’ she said softly.

  He lifted his eyes and looked into hers for a long moment. ‘Amelia.’

  He stood up as she walked to the desk, came around it, and without any of the shyness she was feeling, he put his arms around her and held her against him for a long moment. When he stood back, a smile spread slowly across his face. She felt herself respond, felt some of the worry of the past few weeks fall away and found it possible to mirror the relief and joy she saw in his eyes.

  ‘We seem to be indestructible,’ he said, his light tone not managing to mask a slight tremor in his voice.

  ‘Only just, though. Only just.’

  They were both silent for several moments.

  ‘What happened?’ Amelia asked when they’d both taken chairs in front of the desk.

  ‘You don’t remember?’ Nick asked, sounding a little surprised.

  She smiled wryly. ‘Not everything. I’m not sure if it’s the sedative the doctor gave me or some weird coping mechanism, but things are a little unclear in my head. I remember the moment I could feel the bridge under my feet again and then there you were, suddenly, incredibly and I was so happy to see you that I think I fainted.’

  ‘Just as happy as I was to find you,’ he said quietly, not adding ‘in time’, a thought she didn’t want to dwell on.

  ‘How did it happen, how did you end up there?’ he asked.

  Amelia thought back to the events of the Canadian embassy party, to how the whole chain of events started there. Her sighting of Carl Riverton and Mikhail in the street had come first, then there had been her subsequent altercation with Jennings and Riverton and, through the old man’s recollection of the night Robert had disappeared, her discovery that Patrick had left earlier than Robert and not at the same time as he’d said in his official statement. Finally she’d learnt of Ratna’s betrayal. It seemed like it had all happened ages ago instead of mere days.

  Nick listened without interrupting as she recounted the events of the end-of-year function. She told him of the connection she’d made between Mikhail and Prism and of how Ratna’s confession had made her think she’d learnt the full truth. Nick shook his head as she told him everything, disbelief filling his face when she told him about Ratna’s actions.

  ‘They may not actually have worked together on every detail, but they certainly all contributed to Robert’s abduction. When Ratna told me that she was the one who’d provided information on Robert’s routes and whereabouts, I thought that I’d found the final answer, and so I didn’t think further about any other possible involvements or unanswered questions I still had. I ran into Patrick when I left Ratna’s office and he invited me to lunch. I was so upset about Ratna that I simply accepted and hurried off. The thought didn’t even cross my mind that he could be involved. If anything, I thought all along that he had a misguided sense of chivalry, that he was trying to protect me and that that was the real reason he wasn’t giving me all the information.’

  ‘It’s hard to digest,’ Nick said.

  ‘Very hard,’ Amelia replied, ‘but at least we have answers now. And more questions, of course. One of which you can answer. How in the world did you know where to find me?’

  Nick sighed and rubbed his chin. ‘I was lucky, very lucky.’

  Amelia waited for him to continue.

  ‘While you were out, I had a phone call from our friend the Pike.’

  ‘Sudakov?’ Amelia didn’t quite believe what she was hearing.

  Nick nodded. ‘I’m still amazed at how it all worked out, but I received a call from him that revealed quite a few things.’

  ‘Tell me.’

  ‘Well, when I woke up on Saturday and found that you’d left for the Canadian function, I decided to call a few more industry people to see if I could glean anything from any of them. I was also getting concerned about your safety and wanted to see if anyone had seen the person who’d attacked you at the theatre or who’d left the messages for you at the hotel. I spent most of Saturday talking to old contacts, but nothing concrete came out of it. And then Sudakov called. By the time I’d finished talking to him it was very late and I knew you’d be asleep. That’s why I didn’t return on Saturday night. I did on Sunday morning, though, but you’d already left. Fortunately you’d left the note.’

  ‘But how did you connect it all?’

  ‘It really was thanks to Sudakov.’ Nick paused, lost in thought for a moment. ‘I still can’t figure him out. I’m not sure I’ll ever understand why he phoned me. He operates in a strange world, and he as much as admitted that it benefits him to cloak himself and his activities in secrecy, so it’s still amazing that he contacted me again.’

  ‘What did he say?’

  ‘Two things. He said that he’d given our conversation of the previous night some thought and that he’d made a few calls of his own after we’d been there. He said he felt compelled to share his views on one person with me. He said that Robert was accompanied to a number of later meetings by another Canadian embassy official. He said he thought it was someone in Trade. He also told me that while he didn’t get to know this man very well, he didn’t like or trust him. After our visit, he decided to find out a little more about him.’

  ‘Did he tell you what he found out?’

  ‘Yes, he did. Before he asked his contacts for more information about him, he only remembered the first name and the very blue eyes.’

  It was Amelia’s turn to shake her head. ‘Patrick’s eyes seem to have betrayed him more than once.’

  ‘Sudakov’s informants told him that Patrick had been involved in what happened to Robert in some way, that the details weren’t clear, but that he’d been in regular contact with Prism since Robert’s disappearance. Their feeling was that he wasn’t to be trusted. When I saw in your note that you were going to his house for lunch, I knew that I had to do something. If Sudakov and his sidekicks thought Patrick was dirty, it meant I had to consider that possibility too. The theatre attack had me worried and I didn’t want to wait to find out if their suspicions were valid or not. To be honest, I’d hoped to find you having a lazy Sunday lunch with your friends and thought I’d probably end up looking like a fool for interrupting. I just needed to be sure you were okay.’

  Amelia was silent as she considered what could have happened if Nick hadn’t decided to act on his concerns.

  ‘Well,’ she said, ‘I’m certainly glad you were willing to feel like a fool.’

  Nick smiled.

  ‘How did you find out where he lived?’ Amelia asked.

  ‘You have yourself to thank for that,’ Nick replied. ‘You mentioned it once when we were going through the things we still needed to find out. You mentioned that you still wanted to discuss with Patrick the details of that night, when Robert dropped him off in Pokrovsky Hills.’

  ‘Only he didn’t, did he?’ Amelia said, thinking of all the lies Patrick had told to save himself.

  ‘When I got there, I simply left my car outside the gate, ran inside and asked the first person I saw if they knew where Patrick lived or if they’d seen someone resembling you.’

  ‘There were so few people outside.’

  ‘Again luck. A kid on a bicycle saw you leave on foot. He said he thought the lady would be cold because she wasn’t wearing her coat.’

  Amelia sat in silence, digesting what Nick had told her. That his arrival had b
een based on such thin evidence was unbelievable. She could quite easily see a different scenario playing out.

  ‘I have some other news that should make you happy.’

  ‘Yes?’

  I took the liberty of contacting Chris Ross of EME.’

  ‘You did what?’

  ‘Yes, I thought it would be good to get some clarity about that e-mail communication once and for all.’

  ‘Nick, why?’ Amelia was shocked that he would take such a risk.

  ‘I believe it was the right thing to do, Amelia. Not only for your sake, but for EME’s as well.’

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘I heard he was in Moscow for a meeting with Sibraz. It wasn’t too difficult to set up something. And I was honest. I told him that we don’t have all the facts, but shared with him what we’d learnt about the lesser deposit and the agreement between Sibraz and Prism to hide the true value of the deposit.’

  ‘He can’t have been thrilled.’

  ‘No. It’s not good news for EME, but if they can prove without doubt that numbers were manipulated on purpose, they stand a chance in court. A slim chance, but a chance.’

  ‘Did you ask him about the e-mail or if he ever met Robert?’

  ‘He’s never met Robert, never had contact with him. I showed him the e-mail. Courtesy of a very sharp IT guy who works for him, it turns out it’s simply a combination of a false e-mail address and a better than average copy and paste job.’

  Amelia sat back, surprised at the relief she felt. She’d believed in Robert’s innocence, but it was still good to hear confirmation of it. She didn’t want to think again about the few moments of doubt she’d had about the authenticity of the e-mail.

  ‘You’re sure?’

  ‘Positive.’

  ‘Any idea who could have done it?’

  ‘Could have been Prism or Sibraz who wanted to cast suspicion. Or even Patrick. He certainly would have been capable of it. No one wanted you sniffing around. If you doubted Robert, it would have distracted you from all of them.’ Amelia fell silent. It was all too incredible. So many people had tried to influence the situation. And had almost managed to get away with it. Had she not returned and persevered, they would have.

  A knock at the door brought her back to reality. Mara opened the door and looked from one to the other. ‘The ambassador, Mr Legault, is here. He’s asked to see both of you.’

  ‘Thanks, Mara. We’ll be right there.’

  Both stood up.

  ‘There’s a lot more to the story, isn’t there, Nick? You haven’t told me everything.’

  Nick nodded. ‘It can wait. Let’s first see what Legault has to tell us.’

  31

  They found Jean Legault sitting in the lounge. Deep lines furrowed his pale forehead and he looked ill with worry.

  ‘Amelia!’ he exclaimed when he saw her, jumped up and rushed over to clasp her hands in his. ‘Oh my dear, I am so happy that you are all right. And I am very, very sorry.’ His French accent was more pronounced today, his speech more formal. He shook his head mournfully. ‘I am so terribly sorry for all of this!’

  Amelia patted his cold hands. She could only imagine his distress and embarrassment about the mess within his embassy, the place he was supposed to be in control of.

  ‘None of it was your doing,’ she said, wanting to reassure him. ‘Please don’t worry that I’m holding you responsible for anything. It’s very clear to everyone that this thing started a long time ago. The important thing is that I’m fine. Everyone is.’

  ‘Which is a great relief to me. This is all just so terrible. I wish I could express how awful I feel that you’ve had to suffer at the hands of those who were supposed to support you.’

  ‘I appreciate you saying that, but you truly weren’t responsible for their actions. You were supportive of me when I came to you and I have no ill feeling towards you, Mr Legault.’

  ‘But Robert . . .’ Legault seemed distraught at revisiting the memory and he couldn’t finish the thought.

  She nodded, dropping her gaze, not wanting to think about the one person who wasn’t with them. The one who hadn’t made it through safely. Like Legault, she didn’t feel strong enough to think about the loss of Robert today.

  Nick saved her by interrupting and introducing himself to Legault.

  ‘Nick Sanford, pleased to meet you. We spoke on the phone several times on Sunday and yesterday.’

  ‘Oh, yes, Mr Sanford, it is good to meet you at last, only these circumstances! I have said it before, but I would like to repeat in person how grateful I am for your generous help.’

  ‘It was nothing.’

  ‘Please sit down,’ Mara took over. ‘Coffee, tea?’

  Legault still looked shaken, unable to answer, and Mara lifted her eyebrows briefly in Amelia’s direction.

  ‘Coffee would be great, thank you, Mara,’ she answered, certain that refreshments were the last thing on anyone’s mind, but at the same time grateful that Mara was shepherding them along and keeping the situation as normal as possible.

  Nick nodded his agreement and Mara disappeared briefly in the direction of the kitchen. When she returned, Legault seemed to have calmed himself down somewhat.

  He started speaking quietly. ‘I don’t seem to know how to express my deep regret, Amelia. All my words feel empty. None of this should have happened.’

  ‘Again, thank you for the thought. I know you mean it and I appreciate it. I agree that none of this should have happened, but it did, and I guess we just have to try and resolve as much as we can and get on with things.’

  Before continuing, Amelia glanced at Nick, finding strength in his presence.

  ‘What we’d really like, is to understand the whole situation better. Do you have any information for us? Have you found out anything since Sunday?’

  Legault sighed heavily, as if he’d been dreading the question. ‘Yes, we have. After Mr Sanford filled me in on what you’ve been doing while you’ve been here in Russia and told me what happened on Sunday, we have indeed learnt some more.’

  While he spoke, Legault kept his eyes fixed on Nick. Amelia followed his gaze. Nick still looked tired, but she could see that he too was eager to hear what the ambassador had to tell them. She realised that Nick hadn’t had a chance to tell her how Sunday had ended. She didn’t even know what happened to Patrick. He caught her eye, gave her a brief, reassuring smile and turned back to Legault.

  ‘What information do you have?’

  ‘Well, I’ll start with Ratna, who called me on Sunday and requested an urgent meeting. I of course did not know what was going on or understand the urgency, but she sounded very troubled, so I agreed. She came to the residence and told me how she assisted Prism by giving them information about Robert’s movements. She told me everything – the route plans, the messages she left for them and how they rewarded her.’ Legault turned to Amelia. ‘How she could have endangered him like that is incomprehensible; how she could have convinced herself that it was the right thing to do, I simply do not know.’

  ‘When money is at play, people can convince themselves of almost anything,’ Amelia said. ‘What will happen to her?’

  ‘Well,’ Legault said after considering the question for a moment, ‘while her actions were unethical, it may be hard to prove that she meant Robert harm. I don’t think she was involved any deeper than she claims to have been. It remains to be confirmed, but I don’t think she was aware of Patrick’s involvement or that she helped him in any direct way. Of course that does not mean she will get off lightly. At the very least, she will receive immediate disciplinary termination from the diplomatic service, but it is up to the authorities in Canada to decide.’

  ‘And the money she received?’ Amelia asked.

  ‘Presumably it will be taken away, that is, if it can be recovered.’

  ‘And given back to a corrupt company?’

  ‘No, no, Amelia, there will be repercussions. There will be serious legal i
mplications for both Ratna and Prism,’ he said, his voice firm. ‘It’s too early to say, but it might be difficult to determine who exactly was responsible for what aspect of this whole débâcle. We don’t know who initiated the contact with her or paid her the money, but every attempt will be made to uncover the truth. I believe Ratna will cooperate.’ Legault grimaced. ‘Prism is another story.’

  Amelia considered his words, emotion burning in her chest. It sounded like Legault didn’t expect the evidence to emerge easily, if at all. The thought of Jennings getting off lightly was too much to bear. ‘I will testify as many times as I need to,’ she said. ‘Please convey that message to the prosecutor.’

  Legault nodded and for a moment everyone was silent.

  It was Nick who asked the question she couldn’t bring herself to ask. ‘And Patrick? What happened to him?’

  ‘Mr Sanford, thank you again for calling us directly, and so quickly. As you may know, our security personnel took him away on Sunday after you contacted us and he is now being held at the embassy. He is being guarded closely, do not worry. Once we can sort out some of this, he will be leaving the country.’

  Amelia hesitated, but Legault seemed to need prompting, as if the whole subject was too distasteful for him.

  ‘Has he told you anything?’ she asked.

  Legault nodded. ‘He has. I think he realises that there are too many witnesses to his actions and confessions now. I also think that he feels guilty, at last.’ Legault took a deep breath before he continued. ‘From what I can tell, Patrick handled some trade negotiations rather poorly about a year and a half ago. He didn’t honour confidentiality clauses and Robert felt he was out of control. What made matters worse is that Patrick may have become involved with another woman in the process.’ Legault caught Amelia’s eye. ‘I know, I was as shocked as you are. It’s hard to believe and I’m not sure how much truth there is to it or if it played a significant role in all of this. The more relevant matter is that there were actually questions about whether he gained personally from the negotiations. They had several meetings and, as you can imagine, Patrick wasn’t too happy when Robert decided to pull him back from certain talks and deals. Patrick is adamant that Robert was unreasonable and that he was threatening to put the incidents in Patrick’s service record so that his career plans would have been delayed or possibly even ruined.’ Legault sighed. ‘In actual fact, I believe Robert made a concession and agreed to involve Patrick in the later stages of the Prism-Sibraz negotiations so that Patrick could prove himself again and clear his record in the process. But instead of doing that, he did quite the opposite, didn’t he?’